Ghost of Tsushima’s Sucker Punch Feels Pressured to Live Up to Sony’s Standards

November 2, 2018Written by Brianna Reeves

2018 has been incredible for Sony’s first party stable of studios. God of War and Marvel’s Spider-Man are technical and storytelling marvels. Meanwhile, a second party exclusive such as Detroit: Become Human has made waves of its own. Other stunning first party achievements includeUncharted 4 and Horizon: Zero Dawn. Consumers and critics expect high quality from Sony’s first party games. Does this put pressure on other studios? According to Sucker Punch’s Creative Director, Nate Fox, the team certainly is feeling it during Ghost of Tsushima‘s development.

We absolutely feel pressure to live up to the standards set by these other Sony PlayStation exclusives—but what a good pressure it is. We want to provide players with the same joyful experience that they got from these other great games—and what’s better is these other studios, they talk to us, they give us tips, we learn from each other. We feel more capable than ever because of those studios being more open with their knowledge.

Sucker Punch arguably counts as one of the underrated studios in Sony’s stable. After the Sly Cooper series, inFamous helped put the developer on the map in the PlayStation 3 era. However, Sucker Punch may not have the name recognition of a Naughty Dog or Santa Monica Studio. It’s past time for that to change. Ghost of Tsushima, as Horizon did for Guerrilla, could very well be what gets Sucker Punch the appreciation it merits.